[IPOL discuss] Ipol articles

[rafael grompone von gioi]

Dear all,

I have some comments about the Ipol LaTeX class:


- First, the example presented is not intended to be
the guide to authors nor an example complementary
to this guide. We present it just to give an example for
this discussion. We may eventually decide to use such
an example as a complement to the authors article guide,
and in such case we should modify it to be sure it includes
all the typical structures to be present in an article. For
example, in the example figures and algorithms have
no caption, there is no table, etc. Once we agree on the
form for the articles, we should write the author guide,
hopefully as good as the software guide and maybe
provide an article example.


- There are roughly two approaches we can take:

1) Impose a lot of restrictions to keep a lot of control
on the articles so we would be able to change the
format or maybe even convert them to html in the
future.

2) Specify a format: paper size, margins, font and
font size, header, etc., and let the authors prepare
the pdf without restrictions on the LaTeX source.

There are, of course, mixes of these two approaches.


- The proposal we made if of the second kind. We would
impose the paper size, the font size, etc., and we provide
a LaTeX class that produce these restrictions. But the
authors can use the class or not, provided that the format is
respected. The LaTeX class does the minimum, and most
things are handled in the usual LaTeX way and the
author can use any package needed. The author would
generate the PDF and Ipol editors would only verify the
restrictions and keep the sources, but without a guarantee
that we would be able to compile it again (at least in a
simple way).

This is the usual procedure in journals, except that
in some cases the editorial team prepares the final
article from the sources. But once the PDF is generated,
it is fixed and would not change again. It is usually
accepted that the authors verified every detail, and even
typographical details or changing the format is
not allowed afterwards.

The main advantage of this approach is simplicity.
The authors have freedom, we don't have to build
a complex LaTeX class and solve all possible problems,
and we don't have much editing work.


- A restricted approach has many advantages, certainly.
But it needs a development period until we manage
to have an LaTeX class not too restrictive so authors
can prepare the articles as they are used to, and that
it works well in different and evolving systems,
and guaranteeing that we would be able to compile
in the future.

We could do something in the middle: allow any format
for the initial submission, so if the article is rejected
the effort wasn't too big; but impose restrictions for the
final submission. In any case, the final submission
must be prepared by the authors, we cannot afford
editors do the work of conversion. Authors should
prepare a version that compiles in Ipol server, and
the editors should only check this is the case.


- The Ipol LaTeX class we proposed is as simple as
possible. I know enough about TeX/LaTeX to know
I don't know enough. The proposed class only
uses plain LaTeX, is derived from the "article" class,
and sets the papers size, margins, font size and header,
and little more. It was made using standard commands.
I preferred to create a new command instead of modifying
existing ones; a modification must be much more careful
and needs maintenance. The class only affects some
aspects. But all other things must be handled as in
any LaTeX documents: equations, labels, figures,
tables, etc. A priori there is no restriction for authors
to use any package or LaTeX methods they like.


- A very important point is the format: We used small
margins and 12pt font size to make it easier to be
read if the PDF is embedded on the web. This is
not the best option for printing, as it would use
more paper. We had in mind that Ipol articles are
not supposed to be printed. What is your opinion?
I think this is an important point to consider.


- We could include IPOL logo, I will make some
experiments.


- About the CamelCase, names like \ipolSetYear,
I agree that is more common in LaTeX to use
names like \ipolsetyear. But I think it is hard to read
and prefer \ipolSetYear. But we can change it if
you prefer.


- I agree that all links to Ipol must use the doi
url. Do you think we should put a link in
the header to the article? Maybe the doi number
can be linked to the doi url.


- I don't like the links colors schema, I will try to
find a new one to propose.


Best regards,
rafa